


To Taste

by penlex



Series: 3 Times Taako Cooked His Feelings +1 Time He Ate Them [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Character Study, Cooking, Fluff, Food, Gen, Memory Loss, Pre-Canon, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 09:38:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17937344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/penlex/pseuds/penlex
Summary: The day Taako made Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken for the first time was a day like any other, Taako and Lup together in some caravan's dining tent.The day Taako made Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken for the first time was a day like any other, Taako all alone in some caravan's dining tent.





	To Taste

**Author's Note:**

> The first half is the fluff, and the real memory. The second half is the angst, and how the memory seemed after it had been voidfished.
> 
> Previously titled "Full/Less", as in flavorful (pt 1) and flavorless (pt 2).
> 
> Come chill with me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/penlex)!

The Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken recipe was born, originally, out of that semi-playful sort of spite that fills you all the way up to the very brim of your soul when your sibling tells you that you can't do something.

At the time, Taako and Lup had been something like fourteen, and they had been out on the road for something like six years, which to them had seemed like basically their whole entire lives, the past being an ephemeral thing for children in general and for wily children in particular.

"There's no such thing as too much garlic, Taako," Lup had said. It was anything but an innocent comment. Her grin as she made her claim was sharp. The challenge was issued.

Unfortunately, Taako simply couldn't bring himself to purposefully make bad food. Besides which, where, truly, would be the challenge in that. Anyone can make something that doesn't taste good. Only Taako could use objectively too much garlic and still end up with an edible dish. And so Taako did.

The day Taako finally made Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken successfully for the first time was a regular day like any other day, Taako and Lup together under the thin eaves of some caravan's dining tent. The adults had gone off to the after-after-after show (Taako and Lup had snuck in once and realized very quickly that they were extremely not interested) and left them to their own devices. They had kept the lights off in an effort to bring down their chances at getting caught wasting food, and Taako could only see Lup by the fire of the stove. She had sat up on the counter to watch him cook from above and he had obligingly, gleefully made a little show of it. 

In memory, Taako's attention is split evenly between his sister and the food. Each clove of garlic was the shape of her smile, so every time she laughed Taako finely diced another one.

"Taako, that's too much!" Lup had finally cried at thirty gloves, all but shrieking with her glee, tears of mirth leaking out from her scrunched up eyes and catching the low flickering light of the cooking fire.

"Hm," Taako had hummed smugly. "I guess I win."

Taako and Lup ate the chicken together. It was perfect.

 

//

 

The Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken recipe was born, originally, from a game Taako played with himself as a child wherein he would think of something, anything, that seemed impossible and tell himself that he couldn't do it for the sole purpose of ensuring that he would.

At the time, Taako had been something like fourteen, and he had been out on the road for something like six years, which to him had seemed like basically his whole entire life, time being an unbearably protracted thing for children in general and for wily children in particular.

The impossible thing Taako had thought of which had inspired the fateful recipe - apropos of nothing at all, which was the usual mode of Taako's thoughts back then - had been to make something with objectively too much garlic that was still not only edible, but enjoyable. Anyone can make something that doesn't taste good. Only Taako could take something bad and make it good. And so Taako issued the challenge to himself to do it.

The day Taako finally made Thirty Garlic Clove Chicken successfully for the first time was a regular day like any other day, Taako all alone under the thin eaves of some caravan's dining tent. The adults had gone off to the after-after-after show (Taako had snuck in once, though he had no idea why he did it and had regretted it every day since) and left him to his own devices. Taako had kept the lights off in an effort to bring down his chances at getting caught wasting food, and he could see only his ingredients set out in pans on the back of the stove in the light from the cooking fire inside it. There was a counter of course, but sometimes Taako had just decided not to use those. He just figured genius must come with some eccentricities even in childhood.

Spurred on by an unknown force he had later decided to call inspiration, Taako had just kept on adding more and more and more garlic. He had finely diced them up one by one, with a little flourish and a pause between each, and with every clove he added a corresponding bubble of joy had risen in his skinny chest. He had finally stopped at thirty cloves, satisfied and smug, as he always felt after accomplishing one of his self-appointed quests.

"Hm," Taako had said into the empty, silent tent. In memory, he clings onto his feeling of superiority, smushing it around so that it fills up the weird wrongness of not having anyone to show. "I guess I win."

Taako ate the chicken alone. It was good, but he couldn't help but think it could have been better.


End file.
